When I was growing up I used to think that the best thing about coming from Des Moines was that it meant you didn't come from anyw...here else in Iowa. By Iowa standards, Des Moines is a mecca of cosmopolitanism, a dynamic hub of wealth and education, where people wear three-piece suits and dark socks, often simultaneously.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »

But every insight from this realm of thought is felt as initial, and promises a sequel. I do not make it; I arrive there, and beho...ld what was there already. I make! O no! I clap my hands in infantine joy and amazement, before the first opening to me of this august magnificence, old with the love and homage of innumerable ages, young with the life of life, the sunbright Mecca of the desert.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »

Disney World has acquired by now something of the air of a national shrine. American parents who don't take their children there s...ense obscurely that they have failed in some fundamental way, like Muslims who never made it to Mecca.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »

For a painter, the Mecca of the world, for study, for inspiration and for living is here on this star called Paris. Just look at i...t, no wonder so many artists have come here and called it home. Brother, if you can't paint in Paris, you'd better give up and marry the boss's daughter.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »

O.J. Berman: Well, answer the question now. Is she or isn't she?Paul: Is she or isn't she what?...O.J. Berman: A phony.Paul. I don't know. I don't think so.O.J. Berman: You don't think so, huh? Well, you're wrong. She is. But on the other hand, you're right. Because she's a real phony.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »